The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 3, Page 16.
Father of Former Judge Grant Crumpacker Was First of Long Line of Able Cattle
Buyers
Theophilus
Crumpacker, father of former Judge Grant Crumpacker, of this city, is said to
have been Porter county's first buyer of cattle for shipment to Chicago and
other points.
Conrad Horn, father of Peter J. and Louis Horn, of this city, and one of the
early meat market operators of Valparaiso, was another of the early shippers.
Others were Benjamin Pennock, George H. Dolson, Allen W. Reynolds, David F.
Jones, Hans Bornholt and Charles Luther.
But probably the greatest cattle shipper in the county was Peter J. Horn, who
operated on the Chicago market for more than fifty years. Mr. Horn became imbued
with the idea that he was going to become the peer of local cattle dealers when
he returned from Notre Dame university in 1879, when the lone building,
constituting the school, burned to the ground.
His father, Conrad Horn, wanted him to become a full-fledged farmer, but the son
had other ideas. He told his father he was going to be a cattle buyer. The
father permitted him to go ahead. Within a short time the boy had made good at
his chosen vocation. In a few years he was reckoned as the leading buyer of the
county.
For many years, Mr. Horn, in conjunction with other local shippers, exhibited
hogs at the International Livestock show in Chicago. Nearly every year, Mr. Horn
won prizes until he became known as one of the show's best exhibitors.
Other shippers in recent years have been William Gossett, John Wheeler, Ross
Dolson, Bert Frame, Julius Bornholt, of Valparaiso; George W. Childers, Wade
Stoddard, Jerome Bartholomew, William Denzine of Kouts, and John Lonnerburg, of
Chesterton.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook